Survival Story Contest

It’s time for another contest! In honor of our new YA novel Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby, we want to hear about your favorite survival stories. From current events involving Chilean miners to books that detail how to get out of the Everglades alive with only a can of Spam and half a bottle of Gatorade (just one of the amazing story lines from Lost in the River of Grass), it’s amazing what people can live through.

To win your FREE copy of Lost in the River of Grass be one of the first 10 people to leave a comment below describing your favorite survival story. If you want to double your chances of winning, simply post the following tweet and we’ll enter your name in the contest twice!: “I just entered the Lerner survival story blog contest! http://bit.ly/gI43o9 #Lernercontest via @LernerBooks.”

Good luck and stay safe fellow blog readers!

13 thoughts on “Survival Story Contest”

  1. circulating

    My favorite survival story is Alive!: Airplane Crash in the Andes Mountains… I remember this happening and reading the book later provided so much insight into human nature and the will to survive. I have been intrigued by survival stories ever since.

    Now I am heading to twitter so my name is entered twice… thanks…!!

  2. Kalyee

    My next servial story will probaly be Lost in the River of Grass! But my currentbook is the first Boxacar children book! It's so cool how they used the waterfall to keep the milk cold. I liked all of it just that's my favorite!

  3. The Librarian

    One of my favorites is a true account about a couple who were captured and held hostage in the Philippines. Gracia Burnham wrote “In The Presence Of My Enemies” after her escape in 2002.

  4. Kellee

    My favorite survival story is of the Shackleton expedition 1914-1916 where their boat was frozen in the ice and the men had to walk out of Antarctica. Everyone survived (except for the poor dogs *sad face*). This book was captured beautifully in the YA nonfiction book _Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World_ by Jennifer Armstrong. What an amazing survival story!!

  6. Liz

    This is one of my favorite survival stories: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    Amputating your arm with a blunt knife is a task the average person would find virtually inconceivable. But on May 1, 2003, it was the only option left to Aron Ralston after an 800-pound boulder fell on his arm, pinning it to a canyon wall.

    After five days, the little food and water he had was gone and it was unlikely anyone would find him in the remote canyon in Utah.

    In his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, he describes how he managed to literally break free, first using the boulder to leverage his arm until the bones snapped and then sawing away at muscle and tendon with his pocket knife. He then had to rappel down a 65-foot wall. He was walking back to his car when hikers found him.

    The 33-year-old continues to climb, including all of Colorado’s 55 peaks higher than 14,000 feet, and is also a motivational speaker.

  7. Gwen

    Two Weeks in an Ice Cave

    In 1982, Mark Inglis and Phil Doole were high up the slopes of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki Mt. Cook, when a blizzard hit.

    They built an ice cave and waited for the storm to pass, but it would be 13 days before help could reach them. They survived on meagre rations, but in the cramped cave they lost circulation in their legs, which had to be amputated.

    This hasn’t stopped the men’s climbing careers. Both have gone on to summit Mt. Cook, and in 2006, Inglis became the first double amputee to conquer Mt Everest, losing five fingertips and more flesh off his legs to frostbite, though none of his strength of character.

    He told the New Zealand Herald, “When you lose your legs when you’re 23… something like this is just a minor hiccup, just a bump in the journey, really.”

  8. Nancy Smirl Jorgensen

    “I was obsessed with the idea of exploration,” Yossi Ghinsberg told CNN Traveller magazine on the recent release of his book Lost in the Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Adventure and Survival.

    It describes how in 1981, Israeli-born Ghinsberg and three companions set off into the depths of the Bolivian Amazon. When they realized they were ill-equipped for the journey, and lost, the four broke off into pairs; two were never seen again.

    Ghinsberg and his friend Kevin were to float a raft downriver, but it caught on a rock and they were split up. For 19 days, Ghinsberg wandered helplessly in a brutal environment.

    Fortunately, some local men had found Kevin and helped him search the river for Ghinsberg. Miraculously, they discovered him, alive and with a new understanding of his weaknesses and strengths.

  9. Cosplay Apocalypse

    I am going to sound like a suck up here, but my favorite survival story is Ginny's very own HURT GO HAPPY. Sukari, the chimpanzee in the story truly has to endure so much, and so do those who love her. Books typically don't make me cry, but near the end when Sukari is found at a science laboratory, and she is scared for life by what has happened there…I felt sad, and at the same time amazed that she made it through it all alive.

    So heart wrenching and beautiful a story of survival it is.

    Off to twitter…Good luck everyone! This Ginny Rorby novel sounds awesome!

  10. Kari Doolittle

    I love the survival story Stravaganza: City of Masks. A boy battling cancer is given a journal that transports him to an alternate Italy in an alternate Italy. His will to survive and the choices he makes were inspiring. My favorite survival story is Hurt Go Happy. I read it in fourth grade and it's still one of my favorite books! A deaf girl encounters a scientist and his chimpanzee who teach her ASL. Her fight and the chimp's sheer love of life make this survival story absolutely amazing.

  11. kfedup

    The story “Into Thin Air” has fascinated me since I first heard Jon Krakauer's name on the national news. It is such a tragic story but reveals the human ability to find strength when you least expect to.

  12. Katie

    My favorite survival story is “My Side of the Mountain”. I love the way the author goes into such great detail to describe not only events, but characters and places. It is an amazing book, and I also love how he (the main character) builds different machines, and hunts with homemade bows and traps. It is my favorite survival story and I think everyone should read this amazing novel.

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